


a legend of dreams

by Aisu



Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, Tags to be added, also alphys/undyne, everyone else is there too just they're the focus, everyone is neurodivergent, probably susie/noelle will happen, self indulgent theorizing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 12:24:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17059724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aisu/pseuds/Aisu
Summary: In the days after their first journey to the Dark World, Kris and Susie settle back in to their lives. The soul is quiet in Kris' chest, and everything seems softer, better, painted in warm golds.Everything seems like a dream.For the two most used to dreaming, questions begin to arise.





	a legend of dreams

**Author's Note:**

> let's see if i can actually keep a longfic going

Their room is illuminated in golden light when they wake up, slowly and blearily opening their eyes. Everything is painted in muted, beautiful shades, seeming almost to shimmer from within.

A beautiful day.

Their hand goes to their chest, first, feeling for their heartbeat.

There's only one, the beats a little too fast but still familiar.

They sigh with relief, sitting up fully. A good day, then. After yesterday, they had started to worry that...

Doesn't matter.

They swing out of bed, going to change into another one of Asriel's old shirts. It's warm and comfortable, the sunlight making it all the nicer against them. The fabric is soft beneath their hands, and they run their fingers over it a few times, feeling the soft ribbing.

Idly they glance at the clock on Asriel's bedside table and pause. It's already 10. Usually, even on a Saturday their mom would wake them up well before now.

They shrug it off, heading outside. If today's theirs, then, well. They're going to use it. Maybe they can try and figure out what actually happened yesterday, for starters. It still feels like one extended dream, or like something out of a fairy tale. Impossible.

But if it's real, then maybe--

Maybe they can go as themselves.

The thought comes with a wave of guilt. The idea of going with Susie and Ralsei on another adventure, with them both treating Kris as a friend, feels wrong. They're not the one Susie trusts, the one Ralsei looks up to.

But maybe they can pretend.

They're still circling through the thoughts as they head down the stairs. Even here, the sunlight has that golden quality, that soft warmth. It's making them slightly sleepy, in a pleasant way.

Toriel is settled in her usual chair, a book in her hands. She looks up as Kris steps in, smiling at them. "Oh, good morning, Kris! I see you are finally up from your beauty rest." She grins just a bit.

"Yeah." They manage a half-smile back at her. "Surprised you didn't wake me up, mom."

"You just looked so peaceful that I did not wish to wake you too soon. And teenagers need plenty of sleep." She chuckles, looking back at the book. "There are some pancakes still on the stove. Cinnamon swirl. They should still be warm."

"Yes," Kris says, with feeling. They go to grab a stack of pancakes, settling down at the little table at the kitchenette.

With cinnamon sugar filling their mouth and that warm golden light falling on them, at least some of their anxieties start to melt away.

"Do you have plans today, my child?" Toriel asks as they make their way through the stack with rapidity. 

"Oh, yeah," they say through the mouthful of pancake. "I... I might, um. Spend time with the... friend I told you about."

Toriel smiles all the wider, nodding enthusiastically. "A wonderful plan. Take a slice of pie to them, would you? You can share a little lunchtime treat!"

Kris thinks about Susie mentioning she had only had chalk for breakfast.

They nod, enthusiastically.

"And do save some of the pie for them," Toriel says with a teasing grin.

"Promise, mom."

"Thank you, my child." In the golden light filling the room, her smile is so soft, so warm. "I love you very much, you know that?"

They hesitate, for a moment. They know, they've always known, but sometimes--

Sometimes, thinking about what they've been facing, how they've been acting, and how Toriel has not seemed to notice at all--

Sometimes for a moment their trust flickers.

But in the warm space of the home, the harshest edges of those feelings feel dulled.

"I love you too," they say, soft, and Toriel's face lights up with joy.

\---

Susie's leaning against the school door when they approach, staring up at nothing. She straightens as Kris approaches, offering a lazy wave. "Took you long enough, dork. I've been here ages."

Kris shrugs. "Slept in. Sorry." They hold out the Tupperware container they're holding. "Here. Mom's decided to start bribing my friends with food, apparently."

"Oh, hell yeah." Susie takes the container and pries it open. "Your mom makes the best stuff. Only reason I come to school events."

"Yeah, I remember the brownie incident." Kris grins, fishing in their pockets. It had been easy enough to borrow the key off the key ring hanging in the kitchen while Toriel had been busy reading about the secret life of snails. "That pan still has a chip on it where you bit into it."

"Hey, I was just showing my appreciation." Susie steps aside as they open the door. She picks up the slice of pie and bites into it, eating nearly half the slice in one go.

Kris pushes open the door, stepping into the empty hallway. The golden light from outside gives the corridor a strange glow, making it look almost more like the hall of some church as the orange tiles reflect the light. They head down it slowly, looking around.

Susie follows, finishing the pie. "You think Lancer's doing okay?" she asks, then pauses. "Just. You know. Curious, I guess."

Kris smirks at that. "I'm sure he's doing fine, but he probably misses you already."

"...you think?" Susie hesitates, then shakes her head. "What a dork."

Kris smirks still more, stepping forward, pulling open the door -

\- and staring at the rows of neatly-stacked supplies.

Susie joins them at their side, staring too. "It's..." She swallows. "Kris, where..."

"Maybe... maybe it'll only go there sometimes?" Kris suggests, throat dry. They had let themselves hope. "Maybe. Maybe it'll open back up there when. When Ralsei, uh..."

They're starting to lose words, here and there. The light seems colder.

"Yeah. That's gotta be it." Susie seems just as stiff as they are. "That's all. As soon as he needs us, we'll be right back."

Kris pushes the door closed, not wanting to look at the closet any more. "Yeah."

They hesitate for a long moment, then look up at her.

It's too much to hope for. It's too much to want. Even when it wasn't them, they weren't the one she got close to. Without the dark world, they're just some weird kid.

Still.

"Wanna hang out anyways?" they say, voice hoarser than usual.

She looks at them, seeming confused, then shrugs broadly and looks away. "Sure. Whatever."

They let themselves smile just a bit as they head back for the door.

\---

They sit side by side by the shore of the lake, looking out over the water. The golden light catches off the surface, turning it the color of the sunlight, giving it that inner glow that seems to radiate from every surface.

It's such a beautiful day.

Kris throws a rock out into the lake, sending golden drops flying, sparkling like gems in the sunlight. They've never been able to get the trick of skipping rocks, no matter how many times Asriel tried to teach them, but they can at least throw them.

Susie is kicking at the leaves next to them, staring out at the water wordlessly.

"You think..." She swallows, lowers her head. "You think they're okay?"

"They're fine," Kris says, throwing another rock. "Lancer'll be a good king or whatever, especially with Ralsei helping him out. They'll take care of things."

"Yeah, I just--" Susie kicks at the leaves again, harder. "We never even saw that $!$!ing knight guy, so there could be more fountains or whatever. I kinda thought we'd come back today and actually fix the problem."

Kris shrugs, folding a knee against their chest. "I dunno. Ralsei seemed to think it'd be okay. Maybe it takes time for more fountains to open up, or something?"

"Maybe. I honestly don't get how any of this shit works," Susie mutters. She trails off, hesitant. "It happened, right, Kris? It was real."

"That or we had the most elaborate joint hallucination of all time." Another rock is tossed out. "We remember all the same things. We both saw it all."

"I know. I know. I just keep thinking..." She hunches over. "Never mind. This is dumb."

Kris--hesitates. There's still an unease, being this close to Susie, so soon after her casual bullying had turned physical. Even if they're starting to figure out the why of her behavior, their instincts remain.

(And there is still the fear of what will happen if she learns who they are, and who they're not.)

But slowly, cautiously, they reach to put a hand on her back.

Susie stiffens, for a moment, and Kris tenses too - but gradually, she relaxes, muscles losing their rigidity. "I'm fine," she mutters, but there's no anger in her voice. "Don't need you pitying me."

"Susie," Kris says, having to form each word carefully. "I'm--I'm pretty scared too."

She looks at them, then sighs and looks out over the water.

"We're not getting anything done sitting around and moping," she mutters, moving to stand. "C'mon. Let's go do crimes or something."

Kris stands as well, brushing leaves off their pants. They frown as their stomach growls. "Counter proposal. Let's go eat lunch, then do crimes."

"Lunch crimes," Susie suggests, heading back towards town.

"Lunch crimes," Kris agrees.

\---

"Here you go, hun," QC says, setting out the plates. "Don't worry about anything. It's on the house for you two." She winks, heading behind the counter, the golden light catching off laminated metal and making dull plastic glow.

"Well, there goes dining and dashing for lunch crimes," Susie says, biting into her burger. "She give you free stuff all the time?"

"Not usually?" Kris says, cutting into their french toast. "It's kinda weird. The other day she gave me hot chocolate, too."

They look at the mug sitting on the table. Even the scent of it makes them feel a little wistful.

"Huh. Well, I'm not complaining." Susie takes another bite. "So, what do we do after this?"

"We do, uh, still have that group project," Kris notes. "I can handle it, but I'll probably need to take care of it today. I think mom has plans for Sunday. So we might need to call it a day after this."

Susie looks at nothing for a second, then gives an exaggerated sigh, tearing into her burger. "Nah, I can... Whatever. It'll go faster if it's both of us. Probably. I might just mess shit up, but we can try."

"It's okay, messing stuff up is like most of what I do," Kris says, stabbing at a bit of french toast. "It's just a presentation on contemporary monster-human relations or whatever, so we can probably sum it up with 'most humans still suck' and go from there."

They look up to see Susie looking at them, an expression Kris doesn't recognize on their face.

"You... okay, dude?" she asks, voice softer.

Ah. Pity. Right.

They shrug. "Never been okay a day in my life." Hopefully they can brush it off, make it sound like a deadpan joke. Keep her from getting more concerned.

"Oh, same," Susie says, and there's a brittle grin on her face that's all too familiar from too many mirrors.

They match it, and after a long wordless moment both of them go back to their food.

\---

The walk home isn’t too long from the diner, but Kris walks slowly, this time, looking out at the streets. They seem unfamiliar, somehow, under this golden sunlight. Not wrong, just different. There’s a vibrancy to the autumn trees, a shimmer underneath their feet with every step.

Susie, next to them, seems just as taken. “Surprised it’s staying this nice,” she says, scuffing her feet against the gilded pavement. “Usually by this time of afternoon it’s gone all gray.”

“Not complaining,” Kris says. “Although it makes me want to work on homework even less.”

Susie snorts. “We could go do those crimes instead. Spend a sunlit afternoon throwing rocks at Berdly’s window or something.”

“Nah, mom always tells me to get my homework out of the way before petty vandalism.” Kris grins at her. “Later. There’s always tomorrow.”

Susie pauses, looking at nothing. “...do you want to try again tomorrow?” she asks at last.

Kris hesitates.

“Yeah,” they say at last.

The rest of the walk passes in silence.

It isn’t too long before they’re pushing open the door, stepping inside. “Mom, brought my friend over,” they call, stepping into the living room.

Toriel looks up, golden light catching on white fur. “Oh, how wonderful!” she says. “Any friend of Kris’ is welcome here.” She looks Susie up and down, and Kris hesitates, worrying about a lecture about making friends with troublemakers, but her smile stays in place.

Susie offers an awkward wave, standing like she’s trying to hide behind the much-shorter Kris. “Uh, hey--hello, Ms. Dreemurr.”

“Susie, right? A pleasure to see you.” Toriel stands, setting her book aside. “I’ll make some snacks for you two while you work.”

The three head for the kitchenette mostly together, and Kris watches Toriel head for the fridge, rummaging through it.

There’s something on the counter. A vase, filled with flowers, all in warm, beautiful colors made even more beautiful by the light from outside.

They blink, once. “Mom, you got flowers?”

Toriel looks up, looking a bit flustered. “Ah, well…” She sighs. “They were left outside shortly after you left, and, well. I suppose I could at least use some decoration for the kitchen.”

Kris thinks about flower after flower discarded in the trash the moment they weren’t looking.

“Sounds good, mom,” they say, and head upstairs without another word.

Susie follows behind, looking at them with her head tilted, but she says nothing.

\---

The group project turns out to go remarkably smoothly, for some standard of smoothly. They decide on music as their focus, discussing the overlap of cultural developments and instrumentation, which is in no way an excuse for Kris to show Susie a bunch of videos of rock music played on magic-based instrumentation.

They’re sitting on Kris’ bed now, Kris holding their phone between them so they can watch a fire elemental play some sort of incredibly complicated temperature-based pipe organ in a rendition of Don’t Stop Me Now. Susie is gasping every time there’s another flare of fire, leaning in closer and closer to the screen.

“How the $!$!?” she mutters as sparks dance, and Kris grins.

There’s a knock at the door, and Kris sits up, tugging their notebook closer to them on the bed so they can make a play at having been working. “Come in, mom,” they call.

Toriel steps in, smiling at them both, carrying a tray loaded with sandwiches. “How is it coming along, my child?”

“Going good! We’re, uh, doing a lot of research?”

(Susie snorts next to them, and they half-glare at her.)

“Well, let me know if you two need anything, alright?” Toriel sets the tray down on the dresser. “And Susie, if you’d like to stay over, let me know - I can get the couch ready for you.”

Susie blinks, at that. “I… I’m alright, Ms. Dreemurr. I’m, uh, like three blocks away.”

“Just let me know,” Toriel says, warm, and heads out of the room, door closing behind her.

Susie watches her go, frowning. “Kris, your mom is, like, weirdly nice.”

“I think she’s just overreacting to me having a friend.” Kris shrugs, grabbing a sandwich. Still, the thought worries them. Asriel wasn’t allowed to have anyone over overnight, and having someone alone in their room like this is kind of weird for Toriel “screamed for an hour because Asriel kissed someone” Dreemurr to be allowing.

Not that they plan to kiss Susie, and they’re pretty sure Susie isn’t interested either. But Toriel can’t know that.

“If you say so.” Susie shrugs, taking a sandwich in each hand and starting to eat. “I should, uh… head out soon, though. My parents will…” She trails off.

Kris looks at her, frowning. “Do you… want to stay over?” they ask.

She snorts, but won’t look at them. “I’m kind of old for sleepovers. Sorry. We’ll have to do each other’s hair or whatever some other time.”

They look at her a moment more, then nod, grabbing their phone.

“Want to see a full ghosts-possessing-instruments orchestra performing Poker Face?” they ask.

“$!@$ yes.”

\---

It’s starting to turn to sunset when they finally wrap up what seems like a decent enough project, Kris scribbling out some notes for a basic speech and Susie picking out a few of the best videos to play as demonstration. The light outside is still gold, like thick honey, reds beginning to creep in slowly.

Susie climbs to her feet at last, stretching. “Can’t believe you got me to actually do work,” she says with a bit of a grin. “You might ruin my reputation, Kris.”

“We got each other to do work.” Kris shrugs. “I’ll be busy tomorrow morning, but see you, like, 1-ish?”

“Sounds good.” She heads for the bedroom door, pauses. “You have a bird or something?”

Kris feels themselves tense. They’ve--been able to not think about it much at all today. The mellow golden light and the jokes with Susie and the constant distractions have kept them from having to consider that tomorrow they could again not be their own, that at any moment all of this could end.

But even now, the panic feels muted, distant. They had today, right? Today had been--good. Nothing but good. Susie had liked spending time with them, even without the dark world, even without the thing asleep in their chest. Toriel had been kind, and loving, and there. Nothing had gone wrong, at all.

Maybe tomorrow can be the same.

They shrug, leaning back. “Art project,” they say.

“Huh. Fair enough.” She waves from the doorway. “See you, Kris.”

A pause.

“And, uh… thanks.”

And she’s gone.

Kris leans back on the bed, closing their eyes, and for the first time in a long time they almost feel okay.

\---

In their sleep, there is the golden light of sunset and dawn. Twilight light.

(Dying light.)

It bubbles up from the ground, pooling around their ankles. It pours from the hole in their chest. It wraps around them and surrounds them and they cannot help but drown in it but it tastes so sweet against their tongue.

Somewhere, someone is laughing without sound. Somewhere, something is gasping for breath in the golden light. Somewhere, something is ending.

But they are wrapped in gold, and it is so easy to stop fighting.

Everything is like a dream.

There is no pain.

All that is left is gold fading slowly to black.


End file.
